The invention relates to automatically processing mail, and more particularly, to automatically processing postal packets in a process for automatically sorting postal packets.
A process for automatically sorting postal items of the letter type is conventionally carried out by conveying each letter edgewise so as to make it pass in front of a camera in such a manner as to pick up a digitized image of the letter, which image can subsequently be binarized and filtered so as to carry out automatic postal address recognition on the image. In general, in mail of that type, the postal address is disposed parallel to the foot of the letter or perpendicular to said foot, i.e. parallel to one of the edges of the image, so that an automatic character-recognition algorithm can be applied directly to a rectangular portion of the digitized image.
Postal items of the packet type are generally voluminous items which are conveyed flat on a belt. With conveying of this type and postal items of this type, it is not always possible to apply an automatic character-recognition algorithm directly to the packet image picked up by a camera due to the facts that the items are generally covered in logos, stickers and other inscriptions, and that there is no reliable way of automatically detecting in the image of a postal packet which zone of the image contains the relevant postal address. In addition, on this type of postal item, the postal address which should be read automatically from the image of the item is generally in a position which varies greatly from one postal item to another. In automatic mail sorting installations, a video-coding station is often provided for enabling a postal address to be read in a semi-automatic manner if it has not been possible to read said postal address by automatic character-recognition.
Such a video-coding station generally comprises a central processor unit for holding a digitized image of a postal item in memory, a screen connected to the central processor unit for displaying said image of a postal item in such a manner as to enable an operator to see a postal address of the postal item in the image, and a keyboard connected to the central processor unit to enable the operator to key in the postal address of the item so as to be able to steer said item automatically towards a corresponding sorting outlet of the postal sorting installation.